Almost home

Folks,

Apologies for the radio silence last week. It was a busy end to the semester, with exams and student evaluations to do. But it's all over now, and we head off at 4.30 in the morning for the first of our many flights home.

World Cup
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It seems ages ago since Costa Rica returned from the World Cup. They didn't get a great reception. The players were heckled at the airport on their return. Some disgruntled supporters carried signs saying 'Coffee Pickers Needed'.

The La Nación headline was 'It couldn't be worse'.

End of semester
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It was the end of the semester in school. I hate the end of semester, because you end up with lots of exams to mark, along with the semester evaluations. Plus you're a bit burnt out also. The lesson plans for the last week relied a lot on movies and parties.

Some teachers have left during the semester, so there was a smaller number than usual leaving at the end. I think there are only 3 going. One is Chris, my fellow head-teacher, who is returning to Canada after 3 years here. I'm taking over from him next semester, and Taylor is moving to my role.

We had a great party to mark Chris's departure on Thursday. It was in the garden of the house of one of the receptionists at school.

Intercultura Cup
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The school soccer cup finished for this semester on Monday. We went out to see the game. It was a team of mostly American teachers, versus a Canadian teacher and his Tico students. The Ticos hate how the American's play. They bring baseball, American football and hockey principles, and they play very rough. The Ticos love little gentle Latin American tricks with the ball. The game included a GAA-style jostle. In the end, however, Tico finesse beat American power 5-1.

Tico Bureaucracy
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Many of you will remember that I lost my computers hard drive last August. Well, needless to say, since then I've been quite a stickler for backups. I bought an external hard drive when I was in Dublin, and was using that for backup. However, it gave up the ghost in February. (I've been using an online backup service since.)

After a long and tortuous return process, the disk eventually arrived back in Costa Rica. I got a notice that there was $6 import duty due on it. To sort this out, I had to get a taxi to a customs warehouse a few kilometres away.

They showed me the box containing my disk, but gave me forms that I needed to complete. I was to take these a place near the airport. I was given a map to show me exactly where. I was to ask for Gerardo, and answer his questions, and fill out a form. Then I was to phone back to a guy the original warehouse. His name was Esteban. When I got a number from Gerardo, I was to call Esteban with a number that Gerardo was to give me. Then he'd update something on computer. I was then to ask for Alejandra.

It turned out that Alejandra was sitting beside Gerardo. I queued up behind two nuns to talk to her. When I eventually got to talk to her, she took the opportunity to tell me that she was sweating profusely in the heat (I didn't have to be told). Then she opened her bag (I nearly said purse, another Americanism), and took out perfume and sprayed it under her arms. Then she replied all her makeup.

She gave me a form to take to another nearby building, pay 72 colones (12 cent) duty. Then I had to go back to Alejandra, give her the receipt, and she gave me forms to bring back to Esteban.

My third taxi journey brought me back to Esteban, and after paying the $6 duty, he gave me a form to give to another girl (who's name I don't know) to stamp, which I then brought down to Carlos in the warehouse, who eventually gave me my drive!

Magical Mystery Tour
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Our flights tomorrow will have us on a quick tour of the US. We fly via Miami, St. Louis and Chicago. We're really looking forward to getting back home, and particularly meeting up with people.
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Well, that's it for another week. Hopefully we'll be seeing a number of you before too long!

Pura Vida,

Éamon